Philip V (Spanish: Felipe V; French:
Philippe de France[1]; 19
December 1683 - 9 July 1746), fils de France and Duke of Anjou, was King of Spain from
1700 to 14 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son, Louis I of
Spain, and from 31 August 1724 to 1746, assuming the throne
again upon his son's death. Philip was the first Bourbon king of Spain. His entire reign of 45
years and 21 days is the longest in Spanish history.

His older brother, Louis de France,
duc de Bourgogne (1684-1712), was in line to the throne
right after his father, Le Grand Dauphin, thus leaving him
and his younger brother, Charles de France, duc de Berry
(1686-1714) little expectation to ever rule over France.

As the son of the Dauphin, he was a Petit fils de
France, "Grandson of France". This rank allowed him
precedence over all at the court of his grandfather Louis
XIV as well as the Princes of the Blood. This also allowed
him the style of address Royal Highness. Despite this, the
style was rarely used in France at the time except in relations
with foreign powers; he was also allowed the style of Most High
and Powerful Prince which was the one more commonly used. He
was tutored with his brothers by François Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai. The three were also
educated by Paul de
Beauvilliers.

At the age of 6, Philip lost his mother. His had wed in 1680 and
had his father Louis had always suffered from great melancholy. His
father would later marry Marie Emilie Thérèse
de Joly de Choin in a secret marriage in 1695. She was never
Dauphine as Philip's mother was due to the union being Morganatic.

On 2 November 1701 Philip married the 13-year old Princess
Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy as chosen by his grandfather.
There was a proxy ceremony at Turin[5] and
another at Versailles on 11 September. This marriage was to cement
the Treaty of Turin, which ended Franco-Savoyard conflicts during
the Nine
Years' War. The Duke and Duchess of Burgundy also personified
this treaty.

The new Queen of Spain was a popular choice. She was a bright
and pretty girl who would later serve as regent for her husband on
several occasions. Her most successful term was when Philip was
away touring his Italian domains for nine months in 1702.

In 1714 Maria Luisa died at the age of 26. She was nicknamed La
Savoyana by her adoring subjects and was well loved in Spain. She
died of Tuberculosis. Philip was distraught. The king needed to
marry again. His next wife would be the famous Elisabeth of Parma - she was the daughter
of Odoardo II Farnese and Dorothea Sophie of the Palatinate. She was
the Heiress of the Duchy of Parma for most of her life. At the age
of twenty-one (24 December 1714) she was married by proxy at Parma. The marriage was arranged by
Cardinal
Alberoni, with the concurrence of the Princesse des Ursins, the
Camarera Mayor of the King of Spain.

Advertisements

Claims to the Spanish
throne

In 1700 the King of Spain Charles II died childless. Charles'
will named the 16-year old Philip, the grandson of Charles' sister
Maria Theresa of Spain, as his
successor.[3]
Upon any possible refusal, the Crown of Spain would be offered next
to Philip's younger brother, the duc de Berry, or, next, to Archduke Charles of
Austria.[3]

Both claimants, Philip and Charles of Austria, had a legal right
to the Spanish throne due to the fact that Philip's grandfather,
King Louis XIV of France and Charles's
father, Leopold I, Holy Roman
Emperor, were sons of Charles II's aunts, Anne of Austria
and Maria Anna of Austria. Philip had
the better claim because his grandmother and great-grandmother were older than
Leopold's. However, the Austrian branch claimed that Philip's
grandmother had renounced the Spanish throne for herself and her
descendants as part of her marriage contract. This was countered by
the French branch's claim that it was on the basis of a dowry that
had never been paid.[6]

After a long council meeting where the Dauphin spoke up in
favour of his son's rights, it was agreed that Philip would ascend
the throne but would forever renounce his claim to the throne of
France for himself and his descendants.[3]

After the Royal Council decided to accept Charles' will naming
Philip king of Spain, the Spanish ambassador was called in and
introduced to his new king. The ambassador, along with his son,
knelt before Philip and made a long speech in Spanish which Philip
did not understand, although Louis XIV did as Philip had only begun
taking Spanish lessons that day.

The war was fought not only in Europe, but also in colonial
North America, where the conflict became known to the English
colonists as Queen Anne's War, and by corsairs
and privateers along the Spanish Main. Over
the course of the fighting, some 400,000 people were killed.[7]

At one point in 1712 Philip was offered the choice of renouncing
the throne of Spain so that he could be made heir of France but he
refused.

These losses greatly diminished the Spanish Empire in Europe,
which had already been in decline. Throughout his reign, Philip
sought to reverse the decline of Spanish power as Great Britain
increasingly began to dominate at sea. Trying to overturn the terms
of the Treaty of Utrecht Spain attempted to
re-establish its territories in Italy, triggering the War of the Quadruple
Alliance in which a coallition of states fought Spain. Phillip
V was eventually forced to the negotiating table following a failed
invasion of Scotland and a British Raid on Vigo.

This marriage was one of three Franco-Spanish alliances which
had been negotiated with the Duke of Orléans. The Duke of Orléans
was the Regent of France in the Regency of 1715-1723 during the minority of Louis XV of
France. Philip and Orléans decided that Philip's eldest
daughter Infante Maria Ana Victoria
would marry Louis XV and become the Queen of France. The last
proposal was between Philippine Élisabeth
d'Orléans to the young Infante Carlos of Spain (future
King of Spain). None of the marriages were successful, the latter
marriage never occurred and like Mariana Victoria, Philippine was
sent back home.

On 14 January 1724, Philip abdicated the throne to his eldest
son, the seventeen-year old Louis, for reasons still the subject
of debate:

One theory states that Philip V, who exhibited many elements of
mental instability during his reign, did not wish to reign due to
his increasing mental decline and so conscientiously abdicated in favour of his son.[10]

A second theory puts the abdication in context of the Bourbon
dynasty. The French royal family recently had lost many legitimate
agnates to diseases, making the lack of an heir and another
continental war of succession a possibility. Philip V was a
legitimate descendant of Louis XIV but matters were complicated by
the Treaty
of Utrecht (signed in 1713 as a result of the Succession war),
which forbade a union of the French and Spanish crowns. The theory
supposes that Philip V hoped that by abdicating the Spanish crown
he could circumvent the Treaty and succeed to the French throne.
However, this theory seems improbable as the French Bourbons'
dynastic crisis was acute in 1711/1712 - before the Treaty of
Utrecht was even signed - and not in 1724, a year after Louis XV
had begun to govern in his own right. Furthermore, in the treaty
Philip had renounced his and his descendants' rights to the
succession in France, regardless of who actually reigned in
Spain.

In any case, Louis died on 31 August 1724 in Madrid of smallpox, having reigned only seven months and
leaving no issue. Philip was forced to return to the Spanish throne
as his younger son, the later Ferdinand VI, was not yet of
age.

Philip was afflicted by fits of manic depression and
increasingly fell victim to a deep melancholia.[11]
His second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, completely dominated her
passive husband. She bore him further sons, including another
successor, Charles III of Spain.[11]
Beginning in August 1737 his affliction was eased by the castrato singer Farinelli, who, became the
"Musico de Camara of Their Majesties." Farinelli would
sing eight or nine arias for the king and queen every night,
usually with a trio of musicians.[3]

Legacy

To commemorate the indignities the city of Xàtiva suffered after
Philip's victory in the Battle of Almansa in the War of the Spanish
Succession, in which he ordered the city to be burned and
renamed San Felipe, the portrait of the monarch hangs
upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí.[12]

King of Spain from 14 January 1724 until his death. His reign
is recorded as one of the shortest in history, as he was king for
just over seven months; married Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans
and had no issue;

known as the Cardinal-Infante. Was Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain and Cardinal since 1735. In 1754
renounced his ecclesiastical titles and became Count of Chinchón.
In 1776, he married morganatically Doña María Teresa de Vallabriga
y Rozas and had issue, but without royal titles.

The generations
indicate descent form Charles I, under
whom the crowns of Castile and Aragon were united, forming the
Kingdom of Spain. Previously, the title Infante had been largely
use in the different realms.